Shelby's Gillespie wins state track title

Shelby High distance runner Blanton Gillespie stands atop the medal stand holding a championship T-shirt. The Golden Lion competitor won the 1,600-meter 2A state championship in his specialty Greensboro Saturday with a time of 4:28.11.

Special to The Star

By Sports staff reports

Published: Saturday, May 10, 2014 at 03:35 PM.

GREENSBORO — Shelby High junior distance runner Blanton Gillespie brought home a 1,600 meters state championship at the 2A state track and field meet at North Carolina A&T University on Saturday.

Gillespie finished with a time of 4:28.11 in the 1,600. His goal was to get to the 1,000-meter mark, then go all-out at the finish. He was more than three seconds ahead of the next-fastest runner and more than six seconds in front of the third-place finisher.

“It’s just incredible. I went from not even qualifying for the regional meet my freshman year,” Gillespie said in a phone interview. “I just worked really hard every day for two years since then. It meant so much to get that win at the state championship. That was the goal for the season.”

He added a second-place effort in the 3,200 meters with a Shelby High-record 9:46.68, beating the previous school mark by about two seconds. Gillespie said a rain delay gave him at least an hour of extra rest before the two-mile event, in which he passed two runners in the final 100 meters.

“I was going really hard. It hurt,” Gillespie said. “I was on the ground after that.”

Shelby’s boys team came in 13th with 18 points, with the Lady Golden Lions taking 14th in the girls division on the strength of 17 points.

The Lady Golden Lions’ 4x100-meter relay of Imani Cash, Mercedes Medina, Rondrea Coleman and Tshimnga Odoms was fourth in the state in 50.66 seconds. The same quartet was 11th in the 4x200 with a 1:49.72.

Shelby’s Ladeja Anderson took fourth in the 800 meters in 2:25.06 and fifth in the girls 1,600 meters in 5:26.97.

Odoms and Cash each finished the 100-meter dash in 13.21 seconds to take seventh and eighth, respectively. Odoms also came in 11thin the 200-meter dash (27.17).

The Golden Lions’ Lasharee Stevenson was 11th in the girls discus throw (83-6) and 16th in shot put (28-9), and Shelby’s Ralph Jolly took 11th in the boys 300-meter hurdles (41.56) and 12th in the 110-meter hurdles (15.98).

GREENSBORO — Shelby High junior distance runner Blanton Gillespie brought home a 1,600 meters state championship at the 2A state track and field meet at North Carolina A&T University on Saturday.

Gillespie finished with a time of 4:28.11 in the 1,600. His goal was to get to the 1,000-meter mark, then go all-out at the finish. He was more than three seconds ahead of the next-fastest runner and more than six seconds in front of the third-place finisher.

“It’s just incredible. I went from not even qualifying for the regional meet my freshman year,” Gillespie said in a phone interview. “I just worked really hard every day for two years since then. It meant so much to get that win at the state championship. That was the goal for the season.”

He added a second-place effort in the 3,200 meters with a Shelby High-record 9:46.68, beating the previous school mark by about two seconds. Gillespie said a rain delay gave him at least an hour of extra rest before the two-mile event, in which he passed two runners in the final 100 meters.

“I was going really hard. It hurt,” Gillespie said. “I was on the ground after that.”

Shelby’s boys team came in 13th with 18 points, with the Lady Golden Lions taking 14th in the girls division on the strength of 17 points.

The Lady Golden Lions’ 4x100-meter relay of Imani Cash, Mercedes Medina, Rondrea Coleman and Tshimnga Odoms was fourth in the state in 50.66 seconds. The same quartet was 11th in the 4x200 with a 1:49.72.

Shelby’s Ladeja Anderson took fourth in the 800 meters in 2:25.06 and fifth in the girls 1,600 meters in 5:26.97.

Odoms and Cash each finished the 100-meter dash in 13.21 seconds to take seventh and eighth, respectively. Odoms also came in 11thin the 200-meter dash (27.17).

The Golden Lions’ Lasharee Stevenson was 11th in the girls discus throw (83-6) and 16th in shot put (28-9), and Shelby’s Ralph Jolly took 11th in the boys 300-meter hurdles (41.56) and 12th in the 110-meter hurdles (15.98).